Dressage

[BathshebaKnickerStickers]

Now, I’ve never done dressage. My knowledge of it comes from being a very horsey girls and reading all those pony books.

BUT dressage hasn’t always been dancing to music has it…? It was always just “collected trot from H to M” type of thing (and pretty dull but very technical)…

I’m watching it on BBC1 and the horse was prancing around to a medley of Phil Collins songs…!!!

AIBU to think that dressage didn’t used to be like that…

Think whatever you like, why would that be unreasonable?

I have just watched it. I feel sorry for the the horses shipped all over the world like a commodity. DP said “I wonder what the horse would do without the rider” I said probably just eat grass becsuse it’s a horse and what it should be doing, not prancing about to music.
He did also say he hopes the horse gets the medal

It's shit I can't watch it makes me uncomfortable.

At the higher levels music has often been played yes. Is it the freestyle to music you're watching rather than a specific test?

A lot of dressage moves are ones a horse does naturally or one that have been refined

The freestyle has always been to music, the rest isn’t

Dressage to music occurs at all levels now, more well known at grand prix. And it's not just collected trot, there are a lot of difficult movements that have to be executed as perfectly as you can, while sitting there looking like you're doing nothing, and keep in time with music. Think of it as like gymnastics combined with synchronised swimming combined with weight lifting. It takes a lot of strength to do it that is unknown to many people. Even experienced riders would struggle to ride those horses.

Modern Dressage bears no resemblance to Classical Dressage it's unbearable to watch - so much abuse 😢

It was the team competition- I don’t know if it was termed as freestyle.

It made me uncomfortable having a choreographed routine to music.

It's a freestyle, a Kur, that's why it's to music. The normal GP tests these riders would do wouldn't have music.

I used to ride in Dressage to Music tests at (very) Novice level - my horse LOVED the music and would gain extra bounce as he trotted along to the beat! My dads horse was the same. We used tunes like 'FootTapper' by The Shadows or proper marching music - none of the fancy stuff used at Grand Prix level which is, in my opinion, very boring

@BathshebaKnickerStickers

It was the team competition- I don’t know if it was termed as freestyle.

It made me uncomfortable having a choreographed routine to music.

Why?

@SmokeyDevil

I guess that I feel there is more of a circus element to it rather than it being a very technical discipline of incredible riding and control

It’s no less technical or disciplined just because it’s to music.

I think it's wonderful.

[quote BathshebaKnickerStickers]@SmokeyDevil

I guess that I feel there is more of a circus element to it rather than it being a very technical discipline of incredible riding and control[/quote]
If anything it's actually more technical really, because its the technical side but needs to be right on time with the music. You get marked down if you're off the time.

It’s not a circus act!
It is proof that you can keep the paces and movements perfectly in time throughout the test

Horses are used to background noise. Yards are noisy, instructors yell while they are teaching, there is always a tinny radio on the go somewhere
They won’t mind that there is music playing while they work

But why do you think it’s cruel?

I mean, if the horse didn’t want to do it, they probably wouldn’t

I love watching that sort of thing as its so talented. I love watching dog dancing too. Very clever

You're referring to the grand Prix that's been on this week. They explained the other day in the commentary that it's not choreographed to the music the music is just chosen to be there in the background.

The freestyle that's on later in the week is the one that is choreographed but even so the riders design the test and then music is created to fit the test not the other way around. This is an interesting watch

On a not-terribly-related note, does anyone else find it a bit odd that female gymnasts do their floor routines to music and male gymnasts don’t?

I think I know what you mean - in that the often lighthearted music seems somewhat at odds with the dignity of the sport. I prefer to watch routines set to more traditional music, and more classical in the nature of both the floorplan and the music. Modern competitive dressage is so flamboyant and sometimes biomechanically weird that I find it uncomfortable viewing anyway though.

@CaptainThe95thRifles

Which bits do you find ‘biomechanically weird’?

Ah see I hate dog dancing too.

Dressage is boring. I always hated doing the dressage stuff when I was in Pony Club, my mum would send me off for hours with her friend to practice and I just wanted to be out running around the moors on the horse! From what I remember it was just walking around in squares/circles/triangles at different speeds whilst looking fancy. Maybe music would have spiced it up a bit!

My dd ran through her (very basic) dressage test in a field this morning. She always plays music on her phone while she does it. She likes it and horse seems to like it too.